ABRADABLE SEALS
Summary
If you are looking for a supplier of abradable seals for your centrifugal compressor, our team at GCBS (Gulf Coast Bearing and Seal) can help. We fabricate abradable seals from Fluorosint and Nickel Graphite up to 1 meter (40”) diameter. If you need quality components with fast response, contact Boulden today.
Background
Abradable seals can run with tighter clearance than traditional stationary aluminum labyrinth seals. The tighter clearance results in higher compressor efficiency. For most compressor makes and models using abradable seals, rotating labyrinths are installed at the impeller eyes and between impellers. A soft “abradable” material—usually Fluorosint or Nickel Graphite—is used for the stationary wear component. During transient conditions such as passing through a critical speed at start up, the rotating labyrinths will simply cut a channel into the abradable material, avoiding damage to the labyrinths and allowing the compressor to continue operation with tight clearance and high efficiency.
Our team at GCBS has decades of experience manufacturing abradable seals in Fluorosint and Nickel Graphite. Fluorosint is generally used in lower temperature applications with Nickel Graphite applied where higher temperature capability is needed.
Key Benefits of Abradable Seals
Manufacturing Excellence
Once the material selection and design are complete, we manufacture the parts at the GCBS world class facility in Houston. We use modern CNC machines to produce parts with exceptional accuracy and precision. We can produce labyrinth seals up to 40” (1000 mm) diameter.
Our team takes care of the details to make sure your labyrinth seals are optimized. We us special diamond tooling to ensure an optimal surface finish. To make axially split parts, we split the material, clamp the halves together, then machine the labyrinths. This creates a part with no end gap or leakage path along the split line.
Whatever your plant operation or service, if you have a centrifugal compressor with stationary aluminum labyrinth seals, contact Boulden. We can evaluate the service conditions and labyrinth seal design to recommend an ideal upgrade for your next turnaround.